The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

At the latest hearing in the prosecution of Yakiv Strogan on 27 March the Kyivsky District Court in Kharkiv ordered that a new forensic assessment be carried out. This was because important evidence was not provided for the previous analysis. The experts had not been provided with the domestic knife (not formally recognized as a non-firearm weapon) purportedly used in the alleged “attempted murder”, and any medical document indicating the level of injuries. These were presented in court on Tuesday/.

Yakiv Strogan was finally released from custody on a signed undertaking not to leave Kharkiv on 13 March this year, having spent 14 months in detention. He was arrested in December 2010 and charged with attempted murder in connection with a scuffle with a neighbour in August that year. After the police were called and allegedly took Strogan away, subjecting him to torture in an attempt to extort money from the family, Yakiv Strogan, in the presence of Kharkiv Human Rights Group lawyers, publicly asserted that he had been tortured, and over the following months tried to get a criminal investigation initiated over the torture claims. The final occasion was at parliamentary hearings at the beginning of December. A week later the new charge of attempted murder was suddenly presented, and Yakiv remanded in custody. See: Yakiv Strogan released from custody; impunity intact and the links below for more information